# Tea!



## Guitarman-S.T- (Jun 14, 2006)

Any of you tea, or chinese loose leaf tea heads out there. I may be alone on this one haha. I love chinese loose leaf tea ( the good stuff) not the bag'ed crap. Anyways i wa slooking into Pu-erh tea ( compressed tea thats aged) and found massive similairty's to cigars. The long they are stored the more $$$. Like lets say a pu-erh cake from thr 80's will fetch 500$ while one from the 40's will fetch as much as a brand new honda civic. 
i guese with age they both gain smooth rich flavors. Who knows, but if anyone wants to chat about tea hah aim here, hangin on haha :hn


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## Millow (Dec 30, 2005)

I've just started drinking a lot of tea as well. Regular tea is my drink of choice when I smoke my pipes, they go together very well. Don't have alot of experience with chinese loose leaf teas (only time I ever drink it is at this chinese restaurant I go too) but my mom keeps getting boxes of this Indian tea called Chai Tea, and it's quite good.


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## scotth (Jul 1, 2006)

I love tea! Ginger Peach tea is one of my favorites. If you have a Whole Foods Market near you you should take a look at some of their teas. They have some good ones. Like Millow said, Chai tea is good as well. It is probably my second favorite.

Scott


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## SeanGAR (Jul 9, 2004)

I drink mainly (>95%) Formosa Oolongs from dongding and alishan. I dabble in some blacks, greens and whites, but have not tried the pressed stuff ... I had no idea there was a market for aged tea. I better go check that out lol.


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## Guest (Jul 15, 2006)

Big time loose tea drinker. I drink alot of different greens with some wu longs and pu-erh mixed in. I'm lucky to live by a couple of very large asian markets with very good selection. The stuffs not top shelve and i've had to learn to read some Chinese but the stuff isn't floor clippings swept into baggies. My favorite would have to be Mao Feng (yellow Mountians Fur peak), tastes like cocco to me. Most of the pu-erh i drink is loose tea and it makes a very earthy cup and to me the pressed stuff just intensifies this when brewed. Very good stuff hot or iced, if you can get over the taste. 
I find, like Millow, that tea mates well with a pipe and it has been taking the place of beer, wine, liquor in many of my smokes. 

So Guitarman-S.T- you ain't alone!! 

Root


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## Guitarman-S.T- (Jun 14, 2006)

Hell yah SeanGAR and ROOT. Finally some True chinese tea fan's. I love a good dancong oolong from jingteashop.com Excellent choices. as well as an occasinal lung jing or bi lo chun. None the less a good Yunnan aged pu-erh beats all. If you guys ever wanna swap some good chinese loose leaf im down in a heart beat. But i advice DEFINETLY check out jingteashop.com they have to be the best people out their and without a dought KNOW there pu-erh tea. There tea master is a 5th generation pu-erh expert ( In China lol lets just say he doesnt speak english) but Jing and Sebastion do, and are willing to answer any questions. i talk to the frequently, Excellent group of people to do buisness with. And cool thing is ... if you want something they dont have TELL THEm they can make a special order in a week or so knowing they go to markets and tea conventions everychance they get. That is where i got my top. notch yixing.
S.T-


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## dyj48 (May 1, 2006)

uh oh...tea...I'm kind of a tea nut...I have maybe 20 or 25 types of teas...mostly Chinese (since I live in SF), all stored in glass containers with rubber seals. Mostly what I drink are tea balls which are ultra fine teas leaves wrapped and tied together into a tea ball. When placed in a glass infuser, they blossom like a flower and often at the end, a pretty real flower comes out. The flavors vary. I mostly use a "gaiwan" to drink my tea. A gaiwan is a traditional Chinese teacup with lid and saucer. I have many types of "gaiwans", but the one I enjoy most are clear glass since I can see the tea balls blossom.....


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## Guitarman-S.T- (Jun 14, 2006)

are you talkign abotu the Chrysanthenum flowering tea balls ( spelling lol) Ive had great luck with them in my gaiwan, but in a glass infuser it works the best to see it visually, or just in a glass. The ever so common "Jasmine Balls" are decent, but people seem to think they are the BEST, when the flavors are About the same to any decent quility jasmine tea.. just not in the ball form.


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## dyj48 (May 1, 2006)

Yes, but there are many types of teas that are tied into the flowering balls....so you use a gaiwan as well...had to teach my friends how to drink out of it and how to hold it correctly...as well as properly preparing the glass and the tea


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## stevefrench (May 21, 2006)

Yes, I enjoy tea once in awhile. I had no idea what kind I was drinking though. Anyway, I was just informed by the wife that it's 'Twinings Of London' - Earl Grey. Good stuff, she puts a little blob of honey in it for me....just the way I like it.


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## Baric (Jun 14, 2006)

stevefrench said:


> Yes, I enjoy tea once in awhile. I had no idea what kind I was drinking though. Anyway, I was just informed by the wife that it's 'Twinings Of London' - Earl Grey. Good stuff, she puts a little blob of honey in it for me....just the way I like it.


Good ol' Earl Grey from good ol' Twinings, as advertised by Stephen Fry lol. have you tried Lady Grey and the host of other impossibly English teas yet?


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## Guitarman-S.T- (Jun 14, 2006)

English teas lol, never had much interest in them. When i drink my tea i drink it straight, natural, and pure, just how i like my stog's haha NO flavoring, no essential oil's, just Wacky tabaccy 100%


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## M1903A1 (Jun 7, 2006)

Glad to see some others here enjoy tea as well, although I haven't yet tried having any with a cigar. (Perhaps that will change come the fall and cooler weather.) I generally drink Bigelow English Teatime, black, at home and at work. 

While I enjoy the loose tea (Formosa Oolong, I think) at my local Chinese restaurant, I haven't tried making loose tea on my own, in part because I don't know where to get any. Where's a good place to start looking?


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## sspolv (Dec 26, 2005)

Luckily enough, I live about a half hour from the famous tea importers Harney and Sons ( www.harney.com ), so my range of tea consumption is pretty broad. I prefer quite a bit of Japanese green teas, as well as Indian black teas, and the occasional strong Irish blended tea. But, the cream of the Harney and Sons crop is the Early Grey Supreme. Makes for a great cup to sit down with, whether your picked poison is a book or a pipe/cigar.


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## Guitarman-S.T- (Jun 14, 2006)

M19, brewing your own isnt to hard, as long as you got a strainer. No tea ball, tea SPOON, they wont cut it. Tea needs room, so just a thin liner in a cup that will net the leaves is perfect. best with white or green tea's. With Oolong's, pu-erh's..etc you really need something that will hold a higher temp while the steeping process is goign on. Yixing teaware is the place to be if your on that road-


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## joshua-cr (Sep 7, 2005)

I just have to pipe up and point out that Chai means tea in hindi, so saying Chai Tea is somewhat redundant. It seems like "Chai Tea" has come to mean spiced tea to a lot of americans because of places like Starbucks. What they really are talking about is Masala Tea, or Masala Chai. You can buy a good indian tea like Darjeeling (my favorite) or Assam. If you have access to an asian or indian supermarket you can sometimes find a pre-made chai masala spice mix. Heres a good page with recipes: http://www.odie.org/chai/recipes.html

Good Chai is brewed with the milk, comes out rich and tasty.

Another tea I like is thai tea. The leaves are red, and flavored with star anise. Brew it up and make iced tea with evaporated or condensed milk, its very tasty.


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## Jsabbi01 (Feb 24, 2005)

I drink something called Yerba Mate, it gives you a nice buzz. Great for a pick me up in the morning. It tastes rather gross though. It originated from Argentina/Colombia.


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## Guitarman-S.T- (Jun 14, 2006)

i 2nd the Thai tea notation. very smooth, very sweet with the condensed milk, very tasty


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## Baric (Jun 14, 2006)

Just tried a Twinings Green Tea Jasmine for a laugh at school. it was foul-tasted like shampoo-anybody like these??


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## Corona Gigante-cl (Sep 8, 2005)

Baric said:


> Good ol' Earl Grey from good ol' Twinings, as advertised by Stephen Fry lol. have you tried Lady Grey and the host of other impossibly English teas yet?


I'll just have P.G. Tips, ta very much.


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## SeanGAR (Jul 9, 2004)

Baric said:


> Just tried a Twinings Green Tea Jasmine for a laugh at school. it was foul-tasted like shampoo-anybody like these??


I have had a few Jasmine teas that were pretty good, but you have to be careful that you don't overextract them (don't brew more than 3 minutes and don't boil) and they aren't old. I wouldn't expect much from Twinnings for that type of tea; if you want good tea, you have to look farther than Twinnings, especially if you drink something other than black teas. I don't find milk or sugar go well with these teas although if you want sweetener, orange blossom honey is as good as I've found.


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## Guest (Jul 19, 2006)

SeanGAR said:


> I have had a few Jasmine teas that were pretty good, but you have to be careful that you don't overextract them (don't brew more than 3 minutes and don't boil) and they aren't old. I wouldn't expect much from Twinnings for that type of tea; if you want good tea, you have to look farther than Twinnings, especially if you drink something other than black teas. I don't find milk or sugar go well with these teas although if you want sweetener, orange blossom honey is as good as I've found.


:tpd:

Jasmine teas are very much a right time right place kind of tea much like Lapsang Souchong. That said they do make a kick ass iced tea that i could drink all summer.. To each his own..


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## Guitarman-S.T- (Jun 14, 2006)

for your jasmines definetly use 150*-180* degree water tops, any hotter and insted of Brewing the tea you will STEW the leaves, making them bitter...gross u . brew untill it suits you well. I brew very quick, if i use my gaiwan 20-30 seconds for a good ratio water to leaves. but for a larger pot etc 1 min. to 2 is Far anough for me.


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## dyj48 (May 1, 2006)

For hot water, I use an electric thermo pot which boils water, but then sets the temperature into different ranges depending on what temps you need. I just get the right temp for my teas anytime I want without waiting. Panasonic makes them at a cost between 60-100 bucks.


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## Guitarman-S.T- (Jun 14, 2006)

i actualy have the panasonic 2.2 liter one. with the 140, 185, 200 settings. Works very very well =]


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